16 THE POUCHED MOLE 



scope and scalpel work out the deeper mysteries of being. 

 On July 14, 1770, Mr. Gore, sailing with Captain Cook, 

 landed on the north-east coast of Australia, and shot a 

 large animal, the like of which no European had ever 

 seen before. One may imagine the keen speculation of 

 the explorers on handling their first ' kanguroo ' for that 

 was the name, says Cook, by which this beast was then 

 known to the natives, although none of the aboriginal 

 tribes now surviving use the term. Down to that time, 

 the only known marsupial animals were the American 

 opossums, and it came as a surprise to zoologists to find, 

 as years went on, that, with the exception of certain bats 

 and rats, and the doubtfully indigenous dingo or wild 

 dog, all the terrestrial mammals of Australia were non- 

 placental and marsupial. The characteristic features of 

 marsupial mammals are, first, the absence of the vascular 

 connection between the parent and the unborn embryo ; 

 and, second, the marsupium upon the abdomen of the 

 female an external pouch, formed by a fold of the skin 

 and lined with soft hair, into which she receives her 

 young for suckling and protection. From the greatest 

 to the least, with the exceptions above named, this 

 arrangement prevails in all beasts of the Australian 

 continent. It is such an obviously convenient device 

 for the convenience both of parent and progeny 

 that one is not surprised to find evidence from 

 geology that all mammals once were framed upon this 

 design. At all events, the earliest trace of mammalian 

 life occurs in the Triassic rocks in the form of small 

 marsupial animals like ant-eaters, which moved upon the 

 earth before lizards had developed feathers, dropped teeth, 

 and grown into birds. That it was a successful form of 



